Rather than having plain vanilla Android, Samsung opted to tweak a few things about Android 2.1 (Éclair) but not to the point where you would forget that it’s running Android like you would on an HTC device running Sense, for example. The modifications are most apparent with icons and the app drawer. A permanent set of four icons live along the bottom row for access to the telephone, e-mail, browser and app drawer. It’s somewhat annoying considering I use Gmail and I’m unable to swap shortcuts. You can have up to seven pages for apps, widgets, etc. but unlike other Android devices that don’t allow you to delete empty pages, the Captivate lets you minimize the clutter in case you only want one or two pages. The Super AMOLED screen is magnificent and the camera isn’t too shabby but the absence of a flash is surprising. Here’s a test shot I took last night around 7 or 8. Click to enlarge.

I won’t say much more until the formal review but the Captivate is quite nice. I’m actually surprised at how much I like it. But it’s still early and too soon to say.